Backs to the wall will bring out best in us, says Strauss

Life goes on. Twenty-four hours after Marcus Trescothick's dramatic departure from the tour, the England team flew into Adelaide for their final preparations for the first Test and life without their opener. They are, said Andrew Strauss yesterday, coping well; they always seem to do so when their backs are to the wall.

They are looking forward to a proper hammer-and-tongs match with South Australia that will "get the wheels in motion" and come somewhere on the way to producing the intensity of a Test match. For Strauss himself there will be a new opening partner, almost certainly Alastair Cook. That fine opportunist Paul Collingwood will have the chance to show again his qualities as a scrapper and Steve Harmison in particular will be able to fine- tune a little more, so that by next week the mean machine will be firing on all cylinders with the steering intact.

Tuesday had been difficult for everyone, particularly as the players themselves had little inkling of the torment that Trescothick was suffering other than a vague feeling that all was not quite right. "I think over the previous 48 hours he hadn't looked quite himself and, given what had gone on before, people were concerned. But it is hard to know how we could have helped him, or the extent of what he must have felt, because it is not something that is easy to talk about.

"He went off the field round about tea-time and we thought he was going off to have a net, actually. It wasn't until the end of the game that Duncan Fletcher told us what had happened. There was no chance even to say goodbye. Of course we wish him well. The feeling is that from his point of view it is not when he gets back on the cricket pitch, or anything like that, it is when he gets himself well again. Knowing how much he wants to play cricket for England it was obviously a very, very tough decision for him to return home but it is probably the right one."

No one seems able to pin down what precisely has caused an international cricketer of repute and achievement in a tough environment to suffer mentally as Trescothick has. "I think," said Strauss, "there is no doubt that international cricket is hard, hard work. It is hard work on the pitch and hard off it, travelling round and spending time in hotel rooms and so forth. I suppose it is part of what makes the best cricketers what they are, because they can cope with the on-field stuff and that off the field as well.

"Obviously we get rewarded pretty well for what we do but it is not easy. Guys generally find their own way of coping. Marcus didn't let on to the players that anything was wrong. He was just going about things as he always does, very professionally off and on the cricket field. But these sort of illnesses hit when you are on your own, at night more than anything. No one contributes more to the team than he, and he doesn't look for plaudits or anything like that. He is that sort of a person and, when bad things happen to people like that, it doesn't seem fair almost. That's why we are a bit down."

England have been there before, though. In Nagpur, before the first Test against India, England lost both Michael Vaughan and Trescothick and then, on the eve of the match, Simon Jones. They regrouped famously: Cook made a century on debut, Collingwood another, Monty Panesar bowled his way into public affection and a series was drawn. Doors shut for some in this game but open for others.

"I think that this England team seems to play its best cricket when its back is against the wall," Strauss feels. "This is another of those situations where we can close ranks and back each other up. The spirit is excellent and has been throughout the tour so far, both on and off the field, and I don't think that in playing terms we will be affected that much."

Cook had established himself last summer as an unflappable No3 and will now revert to his original position as he had on debut and through Trescothick's absence. "We haven't really had time to think of the implications," Strauss admitted. "But Alastair and I have been together before. He has a great temperament, a fine head on his shoulders and he will fulfil that opener's role very adequately. It is a great chance to show that he is a world-class player, because there is a feeling in the camp that that is precisely what he is."